Alive n' Kickin'

Hello, much deserted blog!

A lot has happened since I last updated this. Well, mainly one thing: the creation of my first animated short film. What was then called 'Ramshackle' is now called 'Fixing Luka' and we've officially finished work on it as of 3 weeks ago

It's been a bit of a long slog but it's been completely, utterly worth it. Unfortunately, I was so busy working on it, that I didn't really have much time to blog about it. In hindsight, I regret that I didn't take the time to post titbits on the film-making process, for posterity. But I can summarise it! That's...just as good...right? Right?!

So, after finding out i'd been commissioned, after months of script development with DigiCult, we crewed up. With producer extraordinaire, Anna Odell at the helm (who produced DigiCult's other stop-motion short, Battenberg), we got together a team of people to make this bad boy. What resulted was a mix of people I knew from OOglies, word-of-mouth contacts and crew who have been involved with DigiCult's other films. And do you know what everyone had in common (apart from exceptional talent)? Being thoroughly and sincerely lovely. Seriously, there were no egos here. Everyone got along so well and for someone like me who found themselves directing for the first time (and quite nervous about the experience too...), it was a wonderful group of people to express creative ideas too.

Around July, we got to working on set building and model making. Model maker genius, Judith Johnston created the main character models and oversaw set design and art direction, based on my illustrations and moodboards. She has created beautiful work which has added such an air of magic and professionalism to the film. As well as Judith, we had lead modelmakers Wendy Cairns and Gary Loughran creating main set pieces as well as many hands on deck from many other fantastic prop builders who offered their amazing talent for free. I pitched in to, which has resulted in many of my favourite items of clothing covered in paint, liquid latex or epoxy resin glue, because I never remember to wear my old clothes when modelmaking.

And then the animation began. Which mostly involved myself in a darkened room with the mind-boggling creative and talented Ruan Suess directing the photography and Anna checking in on us almost daily, keeping our tea and biscuits supply stocked and generally making sure the production didn't crumble around us. Due to the many sets needed for the film, we had set building going alongside animation, so sets would be completed when I was ready to start on a new scene. We started animating mid August (in a studio we'd found slap band in the city centre of Glasgow) and well...i'll let the selection of production stills below tell you the rest...











See the rest at the Fixing Luka Flickr Group


After 12 weeks of animation, we moved on to editing with Rachel Tunnard. This was my first time with an editor and it's an amazing, if sometimes sobering (seeing shots which took hours to achieve taken out of the film is a bit of a shock at first) experience, but Rachel is an expert storyteller and Fixing Luka felt in safe hands. During this time we also developed the mixed media worlds surrounding the characters, with CGI lead and general post-production guru James Houston. It was amazingly rewarding to feel that the strange, fairytale world, a spark in my mind months ago, was taking shape.

Post-production wizardy took us to January, with us close to the final stages which including the all important dubbing mix and the grade. I spent a day with Romano Valerio over at 422, creating the ambience, atmosphere, sound effects and mixing Pete MacDonald's wonderous score. It was intense but an amazing experience. Romano's input breathed life into my silent characters and the world they inhabit.

After this, Anna, Ruan and myself found ourselves in the darkened studio of Tom Balkwill's, Dirty Looks, for the colouring/online edit of the film. He's did a brilliant job, making the shots look even more lusher and rich. Me and Ruan had never experienced a grade before and it was exciting watching his work process and exploring power the moods of the film. It was a great to work with him (FYI, he plays some killer choons as he works too).

So what happens now? The great big festival drive and generally spamming the world of it's existence! We've set up a Facebook page for news and we're currently working on a website, which should be up and running in a few weeks. It's strange to think that it's all over and i'm still reeling from the work stopping. But this has and will give me time to develop new and exciting stories, exciting collaborations with the Fixing Luka crew and other bits. Let's see what the rest of 2011 will bring, eh?